Doggy Don’t Care review – Silly, mischievous fun

If you’ve played the likes of Untitled Goose Game, Just Crow Things or Doronko Wanko with a huge, silly grin on your face, you’re going to want to keep Doggy Don’t Care on your radar. Another naughty animal has entered the arena, and this little pug is out to cause as much carnage as possible. As the name suggests, this doggy really doesn’t care.

The action of Doggy Don’t Care is split over four levels, with things starting off in the fairly small sandbox of doggo’s home. After collecting ten treats hidden around the house, you’ll be given a series of ‘badges’ to collect, and only once you’ve found all of them can you progress to the next level. Badges are earned by doing a specific activity, like finding the remote and turning on the TV, managing to set the oven on fire and feeding a piece of toast to a pigeon.

Badges are random, and largely, you’ll have to figure them out by just… being silly in the world around you. If you get stuck, you can talk to a pet parrot who’ll give you a bit of a hint, but usually the image depicting a badge – which can be viewed from your in-game menu – is often enough to point you in the right direction.

While the first level is fairly small, things get bigger from there. The second level, a farm, is much larger, offering a more open area to explore and much more carnage to be caused. Of course, you can simply run amok, knocking stuff over, damaging whatever you can get your paws on, but the aim here is to focus on the specific tasks at hand. The range of badges to earn are varied and some might require a bit of thought – even if, generally speaking, Doggy Don’t Care never asks anything too complex of you.

That’s the whole point, really: Doggy Don’t Care isn’t designed to be a difficult or challenging video game in any way. It’s a silly playground where you are supposed to have silly fun. And fun you will have, because being put in control of this naughty pug is simply a delight. Simple, cartoonish visuals set the tone perfectly here, with a game that absolutely doesn’t not take itself seriously. Whether you’re jumping on furniture, peeing on the TV, treading dirty footprints around a living room or throwing a beehive at a mean goose, you’ll have a big, wide smile on your face.

With only four levels, Doggy Don’t Care doesn’t outstay its welcome, but it’s the sort of game you’ll probably enjoy in short bursts rather than playing it all in one sitting. There are only so many actions this dastardly dog can perform, and after a while, you’ll likely grow tired of cocking a leg, unravelling toilet paper, stomping on hay bales and knocking over breakables. But keep your visits with this doggo brief but frequent, and you’ll have an absolute blast being a little four-legged terror.